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Mo. Budget Creates Choice Between Seniors, Kids

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri lawmakers have prepared a budget that could force Gov. Jay Nixon to choose between developmentally disabled children and low-income seniors.

The nearly $25 billion operating budget being considered Thursday by lawmakers assumes more than $55 million of savings from abolishing a tax break for low-income seniors and disabled residents who live in rental housing.

The budget would spend that money on early childhood programs for the developmentally disabled, health care for the blind and medical clinics that treat low-income people.

Nixon has said he would veto a repeal of the renters tax break unless it’s part of a broader tax-credit overhaul. But if he does, then the early childhood programs would lose money.

Nixon called the budget a “cynical attempt to pit children … against low-income seniors.”